Rude Awakening

The serial story continues!

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Ewan woke with an empty sinking in his gut, convinced something somehow had just gone horribly wrong. It couldn’t be due to his dreams. His dreams had been full of Maureen showing off her tits and lots of frisky fun. Maybe that alarm blaring upstairs had something to do with it.

He looked around for Maureen and found her gone. Dang girl had run off again. Probably no farther than the nearest bathroom, her being female and all, but still. He’d been looking forward to waking up next to her so they could get to know each other a whole lot better.

Not with that alarm blasting, though. Ewan switched back to human and pulled on his pants. Check out the alarm first, then look for Maureen. If the two turned out to be related he’d be nabbing two birds with one stone.

The alarm shut off before he got upstairs. No big deal; the cause was pretty obvious. The upstairs bar was a mess, with overturned tables, smashed bottles, glass everywhere and one wolf on the floor holding an ice pack to his head. And two humans definitely the worse for wear. They’d been bound and stuck in a corner under heavy guard.

Ewan’s already-sunk gut did a further plummet: Shaggy and Agent Mulder.

Ewan shot a glance out the window. The van still sat where Maureen had parked it. Two of Dante’s men in wolf form sniffed around the parking lot. They were the only beings out there, active or otherwise.

No Maureen.

It couldn’t have been Cochrane. There would have been gunfire, maybe explosions. He looked around the wreck of the bar for a blond-haired body. Freddie had only been armed with a knife, but he wouldn’t have let that inhibit him.

Where was she?

One of the wolves turned toward him from questioning the humans. Ewan was surprised to see Dante. If the boss wolf himself had gotten involved, this must be worse than a hunter attack. And the only thing worse than a hunter attack …

He leaped at Dante before the alpha could speak. “What happened? Where’s Maureen?”

Dante held up his hand. “Take it easy. Your hunter buddies showed up to attack us, but a pack of my sire’s wolves attacked them first. They took the girl and two other humans. Cochrane wasn’t involved. At last report he was on his way to Talbot’s Peak, but he seems to have disappeared.” Dante’s expression promised the head hunter’s whereabouts wouldn’t stay secret for long. “It’s all right. They won’t be harmed right away. I have an agent in the pack. They’re taking them to the Doctor.”

Just when you thought a gut couldn’t sink any lower. “Kidnapped? How is that all right?”

“They’re being taken to the Doctor’s laboratory. We know it’s in Colorado, just not the exact location. Once we’ve got it pinpointed, we’ll move in.” He laid his hand on Ewan’s shoulder. “I already have agents en route to Colorado. We’ll get her back unharmed.” His personal phone, the one that operated off the grid, buzzed. “Excuse me.” Dante pulled out the phone. “Yes?”

Ewan wandered over to the bar in a daze. For once in his life his glib brain went on hold. It allowed one thought to whirl around inside it like a dervish: She’s gone. Her and her brains and her smile and her laugh and her smell with its touch of randy she-wolf. Taken right out from under his nose. He was a failure as a coyote.

He’d never even gotten to see her tits.

The wolf in him kicked the coyote in the ass. You going to just stand there and cry at the moon? Or you going to do something about it?

“Chaos, yes,” Ewan growled aloud. Bite those Hancock wolves. “Nobody takes my girl.”

Dante was still speaking into his phone. “Follow them. A squad of Tiger Yakuza doesn’t just up and take off for no reason. Keep me apprised.” He returned the phone to his pocket. “Get some breakfast. We’ve got this.”

“Screw that.” Nobody was getting anything until he had Maureen and her smile and her brains and her tits safe in his arms again. “I want in.”